From the Principal 30 January, 2017 Edition #1 February 3 Choir sign-up 6 Playgroup commences 6 Yr 1 Parent Info 7 School Banking starts 7 P&C mtg 8 P-6 (excluding Yr 1) Parent Info 14 Caboolture District Soccer Trials Day 1 15 Caboolture District Swimming Carnival 16 Caboolture District Soccer Trials Day 2 21 Parent ipad Workshop 22 House Captain Speeches March 17 School X Country 21 Harmony Day 24 Term 1 Gala Day 31 Last day of Term 1 April 18 Term 2 commences ALL parents and visitors to the school during school hours (8.50am to 3.00pm) need to sign in via the office first. Dear Parents, Caregivers and Community Members, Welcome to our 2017 school year and a particular warm welcome to all our new families who have commenced with us this year. The staff and I are looking forward to getting to know you and your children. Our first school event for 2017 will be our Parent Information Afternoon. At these sessions, parents and caregivers will be able to hear from their child s class teacher and ask any questions to do with the running and organisation of the classroom and their child s learning. These will be held on: Monday, 6 February Year 1; 3.15 4.00 Wednesday, 8 February Year P-6 (excluding Year 1); Choose 1 : o Session 1 3.15 4.00 o Session 2 4.00 4.45 o Tour of school (new parents) 4.45 5.15 The venue will be each teacher s classroom. Our class term newsletters will also be coming home towards the end of this week with additional information about your child s class. Newsletters will be published each fortnight on a Monday even weeks. Newsletters can be accessed from our school website, QSchools App, or a link on our school Facebook page. There will also be some printed copies in our front office for those families who wish to obtain a paper copy. The next newsletter will be published on February 13. In each edition, I will reinforce our school routines, policies and procedures. We will also advertise any future events, our Students of the Week award recipients and other school news. At Bellmere State School, we have high expectations for our students, staff and the community. Our school vision, A Community of Learners supports our view that we are all lifelong learners. We are keen to build a culture of supporting all community members to achieve, be successful and be proud of themselves, their school, and their achievements. Our school Values: HANDS Honesty & Respect; Achievement; Nurturing, Determination, Safety - guides our behaviours, our decisions, our policies and procedures and we are passionate that these values are present in every facet of our school.
Thank you for entrusting your child in our care. We make a commitment to you that we will continue to work as hard as we can to ensure that your child is happy, safe, supported and well educated. Please work with us as part of the team that provides the best opportunities for your child. Without your support and feedback, we are not as effective. I would also like to take this opportunity to introduce our new staff to you who have joined us in 2017. Security Fencing The safety of our students is our utmost priority. You may have noticed that we have had some fencing added to the entry of the administration building and main school gate. This is to ensure that during the hours of 9am and 2.45pm, the only entry in and exit out of our school grounds is through the front office. This is so that we are able to sight any persons who come onto the school grounds during class time, providing another level of security for our students and staff. We intend to add some great looking artwork to this fencing to make it more welcoming. Mrs Rebekah Adams Year 1B Mrs Rebecca Owtrim Year 2C Ms Emma Geisel Mr Derek Heilbronn Year 4/5B Year 4/5D Ms Danni Ford Mr Ross Warner Year 1C Year 6B STUDENT RESOURCE SCHEME FEES FOR 2017 Teachers are in the process of allocating resources to all participating students. To participate in this Scheme you need to complete the form and return it to the school as soon as possible. The school will then generate a tax invoice based on this form, and this will be sent to you for payment. Payment details and dates are on the front information page of the form. If you would like to download this form from our website, please see the link below: Student Resource Scheme Participation Form 2017 Student Resource Scheme Information Sheet Forms and payments are due now. Mr Terry Caudwell Deputy Principal Until next fortnight, Deb Lorraway Mrs Sheree Milady Year 2C STUDENT DRESS CODE The policy is available on our school website. Part of signing the student enrolment application form was agreeing to this policy. Students will be issued with uniform demerit slips if not in uniform without a note.
3 P a g e From the Office STUDENT ABSENCES We have implemented the new SMS text messaging service to notify parents of their child/children being marked as absent for the day. Simply reply to the text with your child s name, reason & duration of the absence. If for some reason you are unable to reply by text or phone call, please send a note to the office with your child the next day. Just a reminder Please name all of your student s clothing and food containers. It becomes difficult to return items if they are unnamed. Choir News Senior Choir Rehearsals will be held on Friday Second Break for students in Years 4,5 & 6. Junior & Community Choir will be held before school on Fridays from 8:00am - 8:45am for students in Years 1,2 & 3 and any interested adults in our school community who want to join in! Those who are interested in being members are able to come and sign up at the first rehearsals on the 3rd of February. Mrs Ritter Prop Box Donations The front office is collecting any donations of suitable prop items. These will be used for Performance Arts classes and even during class lessons that lend themselves to a bit of theatre. Should you wish to donate any of these types of items there will be a collection box in the front office. Friday 10 th February Scholastic Bookclub orders are completed online only. The books are then sent all together to us to distribute back to the child. A great way to start a collection of books for your family! Wanting to Volunteer? We d love to have you onboard! All volunteers (whether class, canteen, resourcing, etc) must go through our school induction process. Please see the office to put your name down for our next session. We hope to run one in the next couple of weeks. If you are not a parent/caregiver, you need to produce a Blue Card. These will need to be brought along to this session. If you don t have one, we will provide you with the details on how to obtain one. Looking forward to having you support our school! PARENT ipad WORKSHOP 21 FEBRUARY, 2017 2.00 3.00PM
4 P a g e P&C News Our first P&C meeting will be held on 7 February at 5.45pm in the Conference Room in Administration. This is a very important meeting as the major agenda item will be the running of our school Canteen. Our P&C did an amazing job last year and worked hard to raise much needed funds for our new school. We are urging parents to come and join to assist in the decisionmaking processes of the school. We need new input and everyone is welcome to come along. School Swimming Program The School Swimming Program, as well as the Bellmere State School Swimming Carnival, will take place during Term 4 at the Caboolture Pool. Caboolture District Sport Bellmere SS falls in the Caboolture District for school sport. Term 1 and Term 2 are particularly busy for school sport with lots of representative trials held during this time. District Sport is open to students aged 10-12 years old (2007, 2006, 2005 DOB). Students interested in attending these trials will need to see Mr Newell for further information and paperwork. The District also holds Gala Days, where Bellmere SS students will compete against other local schools in the District. The Term 1 Gala Day is Friday 24 th March Positive Behaviour Acknowledgement PART 1 HELPING HANDS Awards Our HELPING HANDS awards focus on our school values and rules: Well done to Indi C in 3B on making the Qld team in the sport of Kickflight, modified MMA. He will be competing in the Oceania Championships held at Melbourne in March and we wish him well in his endeavours. Good luck Indi from all of us at Bellmere State School. PE NEWS Cross Country The Bellmere State School Cross Country Carnival will take place in Term 1 on Friday 17 th March. Athletics The Bellmere State School Athletics Carnival will take place towards the end of Term 2. The focus of PE during Term 2 will be on the Athletics events, in lead up to the school carnival. 3 School Rules: I am honest and respectful I am determined to achieve I care for myself and others Students spotted following the school rules in the playground and classroom are given a HANDS award. Students place their name, date and class on the palm side of the hand and place it in their House box. All classes have boxes in their classroom, 1 for each House. On a weekly basis, students place their HANDS award in this box. Class teachers are able to use this form of reward as an end of week award/reward. At the end of each month, House monitors take the boxes down to the Resource Centre and empty them into the major House boxes. Each month on Assembly, 1 card from each House is drawn and a prize is awarded. After this Assembly draw, House Captains go to the Resource Centre and count the monthly HANDS awards for their house. This then becomes part of a running count across the year for the end of year House Cup trophy.
5 P a g e School Shed for Practical Activities As most of our parents from last year would know, we introduced lunch-time clubs so students could explore new activities and learn together in small groups. Students were asked about their interests, and teachers set about organising the clubs. Two popular clubs involved engines and woodworking. These, and other clubs, highlighted the benefit of practical learning opportunities where our students could apply what they learnt in the classroom to real situations. However, the real situation was, there was no place in the school that suited such practical tasks. Students had so many ideas for projects and things they could build for their classrooms that a solution had to be found. There was a perfect covered work area outside Q Block, but nowhere to store the equipment. Students were soon talking about building a shed in a nearby spot where our Year 4 and 5 students had already established a school vegetable garden (with some help from Bunnings). They cleared a site at the end of 2016, and we had a 6M x 3M shed erected during the holidays. Students can now engage in hands on learning when opportunities arise to explore mechanics, woodwork, batteries and electrical circuits and other construction tasks. Lunch clubs will continue, and classes can now organise for some groups to make the resources they need for class projects. Just another way Bellmere strives to keep school real and engaging for all of our students.
6 P a g e Get involved in the School Banking program. Bellmere State School is excited to offer the Commonwealth Bank School Banking program to all students. School Banking is a fun, interactive and engaging way for young Australians to learn about money and develop good savings habits. Children who deposit money into their Youthsaver account through School Banking earn Dollarmites tokens, which they can save up and redeem for exciting rewards. School Banking day is TUESDAY. Each week you need to hand your banking into your class teacher. First day of School Banking for 2017 will be WEEK 3 TUESDAY 7th February The rewards available during 2017 are: Cyber Handball Colour Change Markers 3D Chalk Set Tablet Case Smiley Emoji Keyring Volt Handball Pencil + Tech Case Epic Earphones School Banking is also a great fundraiser for our school. Our school receives $5 when a student makes their first ever School Banking deposit and 5% on every deposit made through the school (to a maximum of $10 per individual deposit). Getting involved in School Banking is easy! All you need to get involved in the School Banking program is a Commonwealth Bank Youthsaver account. You can open an account for your child in one of two ways: 1. Online Visit commbank.com.au/schoolbanking and click on the link to open a Youthsaver account. 2. In branch Visit a Commonwealth Bank branch with identification for yourself and your child, like a driver s licence and birth certificate. If your child has an existing Commonwealth Bank Youthsaver account they can start banking straight away. They just need to bring their deposit in every week on School Banking day using their Dollarmites deposit wallet.